Z- Zebra Ice Cream Cake

I needed a post for Z and well, this idea just hit me in the grocery store, along with about 20 items that mysteriously ended up in the shopping cart courtesy of my kids who were on vacation last week and sabotaged my cart  joined me at the store.
What I'm trying here is an ice cream version of the traditional Icebox Cake (see the back of the Nabisco Chocolate Wafers box) Typically, you layer whipped cream between wafers creating a cake that when sliced diagonally is both pretty and delicious. I'm simplifying here but if you're familiar with an ice box cake there's no need to write more.
What I did for the Zebra Ice Cream Cake was to layer the wafers with vanilla ice cream inside a spring form pan. The process is a little different from the traditional Icebox Cake, but with layers of chocolate cookie (which will soften while freezing) and vanilla I'm thinking I can't go wrong here. The best part? I can use any flavor of ice cream in the layers which just makes for so much fun! My experiment worked and  the photo above is the final version. My kids loved the cake and I think I've found my new summer dessert!!!!

Thanks to those of you who have joined me on my ice cream journey. I am not a food blogger, but I do love my ice cream! I'm looking forward to getting to the blogs I didn't have a chance to visit which is sadly, a lot. Happy April 30th and Z day!

Y? Beacuse I Love It

The A to Z is jut about done. I must confess that between the challenge, World Book Night, and two school vacations, I didn't get to visit nearly as many blogs as I did last year, and certainly not as many as I wanted to. I had such good intentions, but alas, things did not work out as planned. Do they ever? Either way, the A to Z participant list will stay up for a bit and I'm making a promise to myself to get back to it and visit others.
Why spend a month talking about ice cream? Because I love it. It's hard (but not impossible) to mess up, the flavor combinations are endless, and with summer coming I'm in the mode. A month of ice cream flavors has been fun as well as challenging. Half of my posts were done ahead of time, and the other half definitely took some creativity, along with milk, sugar, and cream. I have decided that if I ever have an ice cream theme again, I'm  having an ice cream tasting party. You should see my freezer!

X- an eXciting challenge

I'm totally cheating with X here, but from the little bit of hopping I've done, I know I'm not the only one. :)
Anyway, I was given an eXciting challenge when I first started playing with my ice cream maker, just about a year ago. I regularly write about food (among other things) for a local news site called MyVeronaNJ.com.  My editor said to me, "Wouldn't if be cool if you could make an ice cream that fits the colors of town."  Like many other towns, we have lots of pride in our colors.
Anyway, that little seed was planted and the result was Maroon and White ice cream.  Those who have tasted it call it surprising and unexpected (I'm quoting my sister here) and as much as I would love to post the recipe here, I will refrain, as it lives in the Cook It! Verona cookbook (look just off to your right in the column) where I put it. A fun and eXciting challenge; I'd do it again in a second.
Does your town have its own ice cream flavor? If you created an ice cream based on your town's colors, what flavor would it be?

W- Wakey, Wakey

Naaah. I don't really say that to my kids to get them out of bed, but I needed a W post and since today's ice cream is Coffee Chocolate Chip (and C was a really long time ago) I decided to get a little kitchy with my words. Or maybe it's almost the end of the A to Z and I'm low on letter options.... I'll go with the former.
About 20 years ago when I started drinking coffee, a family friend to me to flavor coffee with cream and sugar so it tastes like coffee ice cream. Excellent advice. Now, I still do the same, but my coffee is almost always flavored. Have you ever smelled chocolate flavored coffee? Delish. So, to that end, we have Wakey Wakey ice cream which is coffee with chocolate chunks. A dessert that combines my favorite morning flavors. Enjoy!

Wakey Wakey Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon coffee extract
1/2 cup chocolate chunks

What's Next:
Place sugar in a large bowl.
Add milk and coffee extract and mix with a wire whisk or electric hand mixer until sugar is dissolved.
Add heavy cream and mix until combined.
Place in freezer bowl of ice cream maker and process for 20-25 minutes.
When just about set, add the chocolate chunks and process for another 5 minutes.
Place in container and place in freezer until fully set.